Report: Actions benefited nonprofit more than $800K

A senator backed actions in the Ohio General Assembly that resulted in a benefit of more than $800,000 to a nonprofit he helped found, a newspaper reported.

Republican state Sen. Chris Widener of Springfield was in the Ohio House when he supported Senate changes to House Bill 160, the Dayton Daily News reported Sunday. The bill helped the nonprofit Springfield-based Ohio Equine and Agricultural Association get out from under $413,877 in taxes and penalties, and Widener inserted an amendment into the 2009 state budget bill that allowed Clark County to levy a bed tax that generated $412,890 in revenue for Ohio Equine, the newspaper reported.